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Web-only letters to the editor, Feb. 25, 2014

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Prison education

It was interesting to read in the Dispatch of the recent study regarding prison education
programs indicating that Ohio has increased spending for these programs. Also worthy of note
is that that this additional spending reduced the number of prisoners who return to prison.

This idea is not new. In 1913 the Ohio Legislature passed House Bill 233 which established a
educational program for the Ohio Penitentiary. The bill known as “Father Kelly’s Bill,” was
promoted by Father Francis L. Kelly, O.P., Catholic chaplain at the penitentiary. When Father
Kelly was unable to get the prison administration to provide for the educational needs of the
prisoners, he went directly to the Ohio Legislature. Father Kelly is quoted as saying, “
Education is the real antidote for crime.”

Father Kelly, who served at the Ohio Penitentiary from 1895 until 1924, was ahead of his time
in recognizing that educating prisoners was the key to keeping them from returning. He said, “
When it (the school) is in working order the prisoners will have an opportunity to acquire the
rudiments of an education and to better equip themselves for re-entrance into the world of
endeavor.” Father Kelly added, “If only we could educate them while they are here, they'd never
again come back.”

In addition to establishing a school system the bill also allowed for a reduction in sentence
for those prisoners who were successful. Except for those serving life sentences, the participant
was entitled to one month reduction of his sentence for each advancement in grade level.
Those serving life sentences were given special consideration if they applied for parole or
commutation.

As a direct result of the passage of House Bill 233 a two-story building housing the school,
as well as, the Catholic chapel was built. It was dedicated on February 15, 1915. The building
consisted of the prison school facility on the first floor and the Catholic chapel on the second
floor. Father Kelly was placed in charge of school, which he ran until his retirement from service
in 1924. Sadly, the entire building was burned during the Halloween Riot at the prison on October
31, 1952.

J. Michael Finn, Columbus

Broadband for all

Recently, the Columbus Dispatch published an article highlighting the country’s progress 50
years after President Linden B. Johnson’s famous state of the Union address where he declared “an
unconditional war on poverty.” While our country has come a long way in developing programs
to help those in need, the Ministerial Alliance Against the Digital Divide (MAADD) agrees that
there is still much work to be done to give people the tools that will lift them out of poverty and
cast them into the pool of opportunity.

Across the state of Ohio, there are many communities that are inflicted with the plight of
poverty. Most of these communities have high minority concentrations with unemployment rates
that are double the state and national average. According to the National Urban League, in
African American communities, labor economists and other experts have identified several causes
that contribute to this problem such as employment discrimination, poor education systems, high
concentrations of ex-offenders and a lack of transportation to get to where job opportunities
exist. These are just some of the societal ills that are preventing people from lifting
themselves up out of poverty and into the middle class.

But Ohio has an opportunity to turn this situation around by embracing technology and
re-inventing itself as a high-tech state. From auto manufacturing to agriculture, the future
of our country will depend on broadband and Ohio needs to position itself as the place where
technology meets the future economy. With broadband, no longer will people be inflicted by
the barriers that society sets against them, since people will have the tools to get an education,
access quality healthcare and even create their own employment opportunities. Broadband has
unlimited potential to rebuild communities and drive economic growth for the state.

The fact is, broadband is the game changer that can not only build a robust economy, but it
can create solutions to many of the societal problems that our communities face. For example,
right now our state is debating the pros and cons of school choice. But let’s not forget that
there is a third choice - online education. Online education makes obsolete the need for
brick and mortar institutions and creates opportunity for people to get a quality education
regardless of where they live. This is just one area where progress can be made by getting
everyone to become part of the digital revolution. From jobs, to healthcare, to education, to
economic development, broadband is the solution that breaks down barriers and brings opportunity to
all.

However, as society transitions to an all-digital world, we need to make sure that the
broadband infrastructure in our communities is continuously updated so that people living in low
income and minority communities are not left behind with antiquated technology. If the
investment in our communities ceases or even slows down, it will eliminate any progress that we are
making to close the digital divide.

Unfortunately, current laws in Ohio require telecommunications companies to divert these
precious investment dollars away from state-of-the-art broadband investment and instead, put those
dollars towards archaic analog landline technologies that the public is rapidly migrating away
from. As a result, nationwide, we have seen at least $81 billion dollars of this investment
money wasted when those dollars could have been used to bring high-tech broadband investment to
neighborhoods across Ohio and close the digital chasm that plagues the poor. This is a
situation that can be rectified if Ohio acts to promote investment in state-of-the-art broadband
technologies. While our communities cannot build networks, we can use broadband technology as
a nation to once and for all, win the war on poverty.

Dr. Eric H. Brown, Columbus

Get fit

The conflux of three seminal events — a Neanderthal winter (we have toxic cabin fever); the
common core standards for Physical Education in Ohio; and the article on the Mayo Clinic
Proceedings study published In Sunday’s Dispatch that reports “we’re even lazier than we thought
... causing the health disparities”—are the perfect spark to create a yearlong American version of
the synchronized Chinese exercise program for American kids, a national model using existing
infrastructure. Ohio is almost there.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says a minimum of one hour a day of
exercise helps us control weight; strengthen the heart, bones, muscles, the mind;
and reduces the risk of disease. To help establish healthy habits, the Ohio Department of
Education (ODE) has mandated that students “participate regularly in physical activity” during
school, a step towards yearlong activity.

Ads in the 2014 Olympics pushed Olympic sports for health. If students were interested in
snowboarding—the flippy, cool, stunt person sport that captivated kids, for example, the private,
Carrabassett Valley Academy in Maine (there are no snowboarding clubs in Ohio) combines academics
with Olympic-level , competitive snowboarding for 7th grade students for 4 months (Dec-Mar) at
$22,500,out of reach for most.

But a plethora of existing summer activities exist for kids in Ohio. The ODE
could extend their authority to mandate a meager average of 5 hours a week of physical activity
during the summer (assuming that students participate in two) for public school kids. Students in
yearlong schools would be exempt, but some students already meet this proposed Buckeye Fit
standard.

Participate in private fitness clubs. (Fitness clubs will jump on the bandwagon to offer free
Fit sessions to lure in new, paying clients).

Camping activities through the Boy Scouts or like groups that meet standards.

Rec centers’ and YMCAs’ activities. (The YMCA has scholarships for qualifying families.)

Already existing scheduled walks in public parks.

Students who live on farms and farm.

Student employees who do physical activities: stand on their feet for fast food restaurants,
nursing home aide assistants.

For parents with minimal funds -- organized activities at the students’ schools several times
weekly to accommodate parents’ various work shifts using existing building staff.

For parents with no transportation to get students to school—limited COTA bus passes.

Families could log onto Buckeye Fit to locate Fit hours throughout the state. For students
who participate in minimal summer activity (too many say they do nothing), a yearlong Fit program
is the life support they need.

Sharon Washington, Pickerington

Minimum wage

I would like to point out several problems with the opinion piece opposing raising the
minimum wage authored by Scott DeFife of the National Restaurant Association, which appeared in the
Columbus Dispatch on February 22nd. Mr. DeFife and representatives of business would be well served
to not turn the discussion on increasing the minimum wage into personal attacks on elected leaders
who support this position. Public officials are responding to their constituents and intense
anxiety of workers who are getting left behind in historic numbers in an economy that rewards only
those at the very top.

Contextually, the overwhelming support nationwide and in Ohio to raise the minimum wage to a
living wage of $10.10 per hour as included in the Harkin-Miller bill in Congress is born of the
alarming fact that the top 1 percent of Americans pull in twenty-five percent of all income and 5
percent of Americans control sixty-three percent of the country’s wealth. This giant gap in wealth
between the super rich and most every one else hasn’t been seen in this country since the 1920’s,
which precipitated the stock market crash and mired the country in the Great Depression.

To illustrate today’s income inequality factor compare the earnings of the fortunate few
versus the entirety of workers. The minimum wage hourly rate in Ohio is $7.95 and $3.98 for tipped
employees. The rate of pay for all workers in the Buckeye state averages out at $18.77 per
hour. The average hourly rate of pay for the top 100 CEO’s doing business in Ohio is $2,771
per hour. Adding insult to injury, while businesses top executives disproportionately rake in
the earnings, taxpayers are often left to pick up the tab for substandard employee compensation.
The Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services reports that Ohio’s largest and most profitable
employers like McDonalds and WalMart annually top the list of businesses whose employees and/or
dependents rely on taxpayer funded public assistance to get by.

Mr. DeFife raises concerns about potential job loss and consumer costs if raising the minimum
wage is increased to $10.10 per hour. Fair question. In 2006, when Ohioans
overwhelmingly voted to raise the minimum wage, despite critics’ cries this would drive jobs out of
state, it didn’t happen. Historically raising the minimum wage has not lead to job loss and
most recently as reported by Bloomberg News the U.S. Department of Labor charted minimum wage
increases since 1990 in correlation with restaurant industry job loss/gain and found no discernible
impact.

With respect to consumer costs, Harley Shaiken, a labor economist at the University of
California-Berkley uses America’s largest employer as an example when stating that raising the
minimum wage to $10.10 per hour would add less than 1 percent to WalMart’s annual labor bill, and
if they were to pass along this cost to consumers it would amount to about a penny per $16 item.
Additionally, the vast majority of economists on record say increasing the minimum wage will boost
the economy. Wallace Hopp, associate dean of faculty and research at the University of Michigan
School of Business points this out, saying, “Your putting this money in the hands of people
who are most definitely going to spend it. The money goes back into the economy pretty quickly.”

So, Mr. DeFife should not expect Ohioans to believe that America’s most wealthy and
influential individuals and profitable businesses are helpless targets to be bullied into paying a
living wage. Instead, let’s come together, business and labor, public leaders of all parties
to support our working families and for the betterment of our local economies to restore some basic
fairness in this nation’s wage disparity by passing the Harkin-Miller bill.